When I was young, a teacher asked our class to write a bucket list.
I hated the idea.
Even then, I was a little superstitious, and writing down everything I wanted to do in my lifetime felt far too much like tempting fate. So while everyone else made their lists, I resisted.
But somewhere along the way, I realized I’ve never really wanted a checklist.
Maybe that’s what bothered younger me about the whole idea in the first place.
I don’t want to put a deadline on my life. I don’t want a list of things to check off before some imaginary finish line.
I want to keep being curious.
To keep making things. Going places. Learning. Trying something that scares me a little. Starting over when it would be easier to stay comfortable. Paying attention to the people, places and tiny moments I might once have rushed right past.
I want a life that feels collected.
A little adventure here. A beautiful place there. Something made with my hands. A story I didn’t expect. A memory worth keeping.
And, apparently, finding my way back to the water again and again.
Next week I turn 60.
Even typing that feels a little surreal.
This past year alone, I moved to Wilmington, began building Marie & Oakley in earnest, spent more mornings near the water, returned to painting, made hundreds of pieces of jewelry and discovered that starting something new at this stage of life can be equal parts terrifying and exhilarating.
I don’t feel like I’ve arrived.
If anything, I feel more curious.
There is still so much I want to see, make, learn, taste, paint, wear, photograph and experience.
So I’m beginning something new.
Sixty + Saltwater.
Not a bucket list. Not a guide to aging gracefully. And certainly not a finish line.
It’s a place to collect what comes next.
The adventures and the ordinary days. The creative experiments. The places I love. The things I make. The things I’m still figuring out. Style, art, jewelry, travel, coastal life and probably a few ideas I haven’t even had yet.
Marie & Oakley will naturally be part of that story because, in many ways, building this little business is one of the biggest adventures I’ve taken.
But Sixty + Saltwater is also about the life surrounding it.
The woman I was.
The woman I am.
And whoever I’m becoming next.
Turns out younger me may have been onto something.
Maybe life was never supposed to fit neatly on a list.
Maybe we’re just supposed to keep collecting it along the way.
Sixty + Saltwater begins here. 🩵
Much love from the coast,
Tracy
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